


'Fiction'

by TiredScienceBro



Series: Science Bros Week 2018 [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 'Fiction' prompt, Avengers Tower, Hulk Smash, M/M, POV Bruce Banner, Protective Avengers, Protective Bruce Banner, Science Bros, Sciencebrosweek2018, Team Bonding, The Avengers - Freeform, Virtual Reality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 16:51:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15441492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TiredScienceBro/pseuds/TiredScienceBro
Summary: "So, what?" Clint asked. "We put the helmets on and play as ourselves in a video game?""We could," Tony said with a shrug. "Or we could play as each other," he added with a wicked grin.





	'Fiction'

**Author's Note:**

> Turned out quite a lot longer than I expected but I really wanted to give everyone dialogue and action. Enjoy the original six Avengers having some team bonding time. I hope it's not too complicated to keep track of who is who.

"Virtual what?" Thor asked observing the device in his hands. 

"Virtual reality" Tony responded. "Stark Industries has been working on some tech and I'd like your opinions on it." 

Tony had called an Avengers meeting, claiming that they all had to attend due to a matter of importance but Bruce could tell from the look on the other Avenger’s faces that this was not what they considered important. 

"So, what?" Clint asked. "We put the helmets on and play as ourselves in a video game?" 

"We could," Tony said with a shrug. "Or we could play as each other," he added with a wicked grin. 

"Pfft, nope I'm out" Clint said dropping the helmet and turning to leave.

"C'mon Barton, I've see the way you look at my suit with your mouth hanging open," Tony teased. "He's your chance to live out your fantasy."

"I suppose it would give me a chance to show you how to really fly that thing," Clint shot back earning a laugh from the other team members. Tony frowned at the all of them before turning to Steve. 

"Cap, wouldn't this be a great team building exercise?” Tony asked. “You always said I need to be more of a team player. Here's my chance to get in the skin of someone else on the team." 

"Stark does have a point," Steve stated observing the helmet. "Although I think it would be more- "

"Did everyone here that? Cap agreed with me," Tony announced loudly.

As the others continued to bicker Bruce picked up one of the headsets and observed it. He had to give it to Tony, the technology looked impressive but he wasn't sure if they were ready for this kind of group activity. It felt a bit confronting. 

"Bruce will play with me, won't you Bruce?" Tony had appeared at his side, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. 

"Uhh, I think I'm only good at being myself," Bruce replied. "Sometimes I'm not even the best at that," he mumbled so no one could hear him. 

Tony shot him a look and Bruce knew he was supposed to be supportive. "I'm in," he decided on the spot, placing the helmet over his head. "But I pity the poor person who has to play as me." 

"That's the spirit!" He heard Tony call as he moved away towards his own headset.

Now that he was inside the virtual world, Bruce was amazed at how life like the virtual environment was. He was standing inside what appeared to an Avenger’s aircraft hangar which served as a loading area while he waited for the others to join. 

Looking down he could see the greyed outline of his own body but void of any features. In front of him he could see seven boxes, each containing a different portrait of one of the Avengers. He supposed that his body had nothing was there until you selected who you wanted to play as.  
He saw that his portrait was split in half showing a likeness of himself on one side and the Hulk on the other. 

The muffled voices of the others could be heard under the in game sounds, clearly they were still arguing about whether they were actually going to play. Another greyed out Avatar appeared beside him followed by more until there were six of them standing in a circle facing each other. 

"What do we do now?" Steve asked from the avatar to Bruce's right. 

"Character select!" Tony chirped from his left. "Everyone set it to random." 

"Wait, wait, wait. What the hell are we supposed to call each other in there?" Clint asked as everyone begun selecting the box simply displaying a question mark.

"Our real names for the player, Superhero names for avatar?" Bruce suggested.

Before anyone could respond the landscape dissolved and Bruce reformed to place him in the centre of a street, flaming rubble all around and several human sized robots ahead of him, cycling through an idle animation sequence as they waited for the characters to approach. 

Bruce felt taller, he looked down to see the red, white and blue spangled outfit of Captain America. 

_Great_ , he thought. He had been chosen as Steve, probably the person he had least wanted to be. 

Looking behind him he saw the others had loaded in too and all of them were observing their own appearances. 

"Haha! Look at me," came Clint's voice out of the Iron Man suit as he launched off into the air. "I'm an egotistical mess who hides his insecurities behind sarcasm and money!" 

"Hey!" Tony's annoyed voice sounded and Bruce was startled by the odd sight of the Doctor Banner avatar standing beside him. It was like looking in a mirror, except for the voice which luckly sounded like the player and not the character. He didn't know how he felt about Tony playing as him. Keeping track of who everyone was under the avatar would be more challenging than he thought.

"Oh dear," Steve's voice came from a concerned looking face of the Black Widow avatar. 

"Nothing to be embarrassed about Steve," Nat's reassuring voice echoed louder than probably intended now that she was in Thor's body. 

"Why did I get the one of us that does none of the fighting?" Thor complained from the avatar of Hawkeye. 

"Hey!" Clint barked from above them. "I heard that." 

Bruce was becoming confused as the others started to bicker and argue with one another, their voices contradicting who was speaking. Thor trying to give Nat tips on the correct use of Mjölnir while Clint teased Tony from above as he soared over their heads in the Iron Man suit. 

"Everyone, be quiet!" Steve's voice yelled over all of them. Miraculously managing to silence them despite the small stature of Widow. 

They all stared at him, slightly taken aback by his outburst. 

"If we're going to do this, we're going to do it properly." Steve stated. "We're here to better understand how we each other fit into the team and understand roles outside our comfort zone."

The Avatar of Thor was the first to straighten up, turning to look at Bruce in his Captain America avatar with a grin. "So what's our first play then, _Captain?_ " Nat's voice asked curiously. 

Following her example the others all turned to pay attention properly, staring at him expectantly  
.  
"Uhh, well..." Bruce had not been ready for the sudden leadership position. Wasn't this supposed to be fun? Why was he suddenly in charge just because he was playing Captain America. 

"Might I suggest-" Steve attempted to say but was shushed quickly by Nat. 

"Let Bruce think.,” Nat snapped. “You said yourself we're supposed getting out of our comfort zones, that includes everyone."  
Steve obeyed, remaining silent and focusing on Bruce, awaiting instruction. 

Bruce stood, all eyes on him, trying desperately to remember instructions Steve used to give out before missions but he had never received much direction beyond 'smash'. He looked over at the avatar of himself and Tony gave him a reassuring nod. 

He could do this, he knew he could. If everyone was willing to stand there and take instructions from him then he could at least try.

"Hawkeye get to a better vantage point and find where the civilians are that need saving, Iron Man provide air support while Widow, Thor and I lead the attack here on the ground."

"And me?" Tony asked, beaming wildey as Doctor Banner. It was off putting to see himself looking like that, the avatar of him was even wearing a labcoat of all things. Why hadn't they just made him the Hulk all the time? Bruce always hung back in missions like this until it was clear that they needed a code green so he wasn’t sure exactly what else he was supposed to tell Tony to do while in this form.

"Keep out of danger and assist with rescuing the civilians when you can." He decided finally. It would have been easy to simply as for him to transform into the Hulk as soon as possible but he decided he wasn't ready for that just yet. He saw Tony's face drop in disappointment, clearly upset that he wasn't being given more exciting instructions but if they was going to play properly then he would have to understand exactly what it was like to be Doctor Banner in these situations.

"Okay," Bruce said in his best impersonation of Steve, "let's go!" 

He begun to move and found that his avatar moved much faster than the his own natural pace. Ahead of him he could see one of the robots eagerly awaiting their arrival. He tried his best to think of how Steve would act until a voice beside him spoke up.

"The Shield," Steve said under his voice, and even managing a sly wink with Widow's avatar. 

Bruce felt around to his back where the shield was, pulling it over his head he held it aloft in his hand before throwing it directly at the target. The shield soared through the air, colliding with the enemy and destroying it. Bruce let out a shout of excitement at how easy it had been and even managed to catch the shield as it flew back to his grip.

At his side the avatar of Thor had hurled Mjölnir into a small group of enemies, easily knocking all of them aside.

More robots were pouring out of holes in the ground and Steve wasted no time putting the agile abilities of Black Widow to use against them.  
"Hey, heads up Widow!" Came Clint's delighted voice as a car was hurled through the air towards the group. Widow barely had time to move out of the way before Clint sent a wrist rocket shooting out of the Iron Man suit to finish of the enemies trapped beneath the wreckage of the car. 

"Watch it!" Steve complained after recovering.

"Haha, sorry Steve, forgot who was in there," Clint chimed as he soared back into the sky. At least one of them was having fun, Bruce supposed.

"That was a total misuse of what that suit is capable of Clint!" Tony's annoyed voice came from across the street.

Bruce turned to see the avatar of himself standing completely unprotected in the middle of the street as Tony stared up at Clint flying around overhead, too distracted by his Iron Man suit overhead, Tony hadn't seen the robot that was barreling towards him, laser sword drawn.

"Look out!" Bruce yelled, sprinting towards Tony, thankful that he was so quick in this avatar. He managed to tackle Tony out of the way just before the robot was able to take a swing at him.

Pulling himself quickly back off the ground he sent the shield flying at the attacker before turning back to help pull Tony off the ground. 

"Haha, look at that my 'Anger' meter just went up." Tony said delighted, clearly looking at something in his own HUD. 

"Anger meter? What?-" Bruce asked.

"Yeah, it's this little meter in the corner of my screen. When it gets to full I transform into the Hulk," Tony explained. "I figured if I got out here amongst the action with you guys it might fill up a bit quicker." 

Bruce stood, frozen by what Tony had just said. An 'anger meter' was that all this was to everyone, his internal struggle against a monster that occupied every moment of his life summarized into a simple meter. 

"Citizen's spotted" Thor's voice came over the communicator for wherever he had perched himself as Hawkeye. "I don't understand how you guys live like this. No offence but it's rubbish." 

"Yeah, yeah," Clint sounded. "Where are the people that need rescuing?”

"Building to your left, fifteenth floor. I can see them in one of the windows. But there are some hostile drones hovering nearby, we'll need to clear them away." 

"Easy, I'll use one of these missiles," Clint offered. 

"No," Nat's voice called. They're too close to the building, you could hurt the civilians.

"Well use Hawkeye's bow then!" Clint yelled, annoyed. 

"This toy?" Thor asked with a hearty laugh. "I'd probably snap it in half if I tried to use it."

Bruce didn't hear the rest of the conversation, he had turned his attention back to the avatar of himself. 

"C'mon _Cap_ " Tony said excitedly. Let's get back into it. I really wanna see what I can do as the Hulk." 

"No," Bruce replied. "You don't."

"Bruce, it's just a game," Tony replied, dropping his voice so only the two of them could hear. "It's not real, what's the worst that could happen?" 

Bruce could feel his own anger rising, he had to keep calm, what would happen if he had his own Hulk out in reality while they were playing. Everyone would be trapped in the room with him, too distracted by the game to react properly. He focused on what has happening around himself, trying his best to ground himself within reality, well, virtual reality. Tony was right, none of this was real, it was okay, he was safe, they were all safe. 

"Your orders are to stay as Banner," Bruce stated, looking at Tony. "No code greens unless it’s a final resort." He knew he was being harsh, but Nat had said, they were going to do this properly and Tony was not going to be the exception to that rule.

Without another word he turned and hurried back to the fight. Everyone was carrying on eliminating robot hostiles despite his and Tony's absence.

"You two finished your lovers quarrel?" Clint teased as he swooped in from over head, shattering several of the robots with his arc reactors. 

"Status report?" Bruce asked, recalling that was a thing that Steve sometimes said in the field. 

"Citizen's rescued and moved to a secure area, proceeding to the next zone." Steve responded diligently. "If that's okay with you, that is," he added nervously. 

Bruce could see that Steve was trying his best not to take over as leader despite his natural habit to do so. 

"Sounds good to me," Bruce responded with a smile. "Good job team." 

A final cluster of robots blocked them from proceeding down the street but Nat in her Thor avatar made quick work of them, summoning bolts of lighting with Mjölnir to rip through the group. "I think I could get used to this whole God thing," Nat said. 

"We would welcome you," Thor called. "I'm glad to see that at least someone competent is wielding Mjölnir in my absence." 

Making their way forward together Bruce scanned the perimeter for signs of any new major threats. He felt like he was getting the hang of being Captain America. 

"Wait," Thor's voice came over the communicators. "Something's wrong, the enemies are retreating." 

Bruce looked around and sure enough all the robots were scuttling away back inside the surrounding buildings. Suddenly the ground beneath them began to rumble and once again Bruce was blown away by how immersive this game really was. 

"Something's coming," Nat warned. 

Instinctively both her and Steve begun to close ranks so that the three of them were standing close together as they waited for the threat to present itself. 

Coming into view around the street corner was a much larger robot. Looming over them, several stories high it turned to face them, deploying supports down as it prepared for an attack. Once it positioned itself, blocking their way, a large laser begun to unfold from it’s centre, pointing in their direction.

"Oh, come on!" Clint yelled. 

Then Bruce heard it, the panicked screams of civilians coming from all around inside the surrounding buildings. 

"Uh guys, I don't think those robots were retreating," Tony said from his hiding place behind a car.

"What's the play Cap?" Steve asked beside him. 

Bruce nodded. "Thor, Widow, the two of you get inside those buildings and help rescue the citizens. Hawkeye give them directions and take out any robots attempting to get in from the outside of the buildings. Iron Man get to the higher levels."

"And you?" Steve asked looking wearily between him and the laser that was priming at an alarming rate. 

Bruce held his shield in front of him with a grin. 

He stood, shield raised and ready to take the brunt of the blast as soon as it fired. With any luck it would reflect off the shield straight back at the robot, destroying it. 

Bruce stared ahead, focusing on his target and waiting to brace himself the second the laser was fired. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted movement and two new robots appeared before he could react. They launched ropes out of their cannon, landing direct hits on his arms. Then, the straps tightened, pulling his arms out away from his body and forcing him to drop the shield. He attempted to pull the robots towards him so he could gain some slack on his binds but they were too strong, even for Captain America.

Looking ahead he was that the laser robot was now fully primed and aimed directly at him. It had been a trap, his shield now laying useless at his feet. He felt his heart rate increasing and he had to remind himself over and over again that it wasn't real. He wasn't in danger, he would just get a game over, he didn't need to be afraid. 

Regardless of how much he repeated this to himself he was still caught up in how real everything felt. His heart was beating so fast and he could feel his skin prickling, threatening to give into the Hulk. As the laser fired he closed his eyes, not able to watch as the laser hurtled towards him. Over comms he heard someone else screaming and the concerned shouts of his team members. 

He waited a few seconds before opening his eyes, clearly expecting to see a game over screen, but instead found that he was still in the game, perfectly safe. In front of him was the large green body of the Hulk standing protectively in front of him and panting heavily. 

"That was amazing!" Clint yelled. "Go Tony!" 

"What's going on down there?" Steve asked from somewhere inside one of the buildings. 

"I don't quite know," Bruce responded, looking up at Hulk who was staring angrily at the robot ahead of them. "Tony, what did you do?" 

The Hulk looked back at him and managed only a grunt in response before focusing his attention back ahead of them. Bruce felt his stomach drop, he had never looked the Hulk in the face before. He knew it wasn't real but there was something about actually looking in the face of the monster that made him uncomfortable. The Hulk was always the beast within, the internal struggle he couldn't overcome but now, seeing him with his own eyes standing beside him, it was unreal.

A booming roar echoed through the city as the Hulk launched himself at the enemy. Bruce couldn't do anything but stand and stare as the Hulk begun ripping the laser to pieces, his giant hands easily shredding the metal and throwing it over his shoulders. Bruce could barely believe how easily Tony was taking to being the Hulk.

Two arrows soared through the air and cut through the ropes binding his arms. Bruce knew that he should thank Thor for releasing him but he found that he couldn't speak. It was oddly hypnotic watching the Hulk destroying whatever he could get his hands on, so much so that Bruce found he couldn't do anything else. It was like having an out of body experience as he watched his other self. 

"Big Buy!" Thor warned, "Watch where you're throwing that stuff, we've still got citizens in those buildings."

The Hulk simply responded with another roar and continued his reckless actions without acknowledging Thor's request. There was something odd about his actions, like he was attempting to control himself but at the last second giving in and continuing to act recklessly.  
Bruce focused his attention on the debris that the Hulk was carelessly tossing aside and saw that they were being thrown towards some of the remaining civilians. The Hulk was continuing to let out roars of anger without looking away from his target or taking in anything that was being yelled at him by the others.

"I don't think Tony ," Bruce stated is in control any more," Bruce stated without taking his eyes off of the Hulk. "I don't think he can talk either.

"Hooray for small mercies," Clint laughed. 

"Bruce are you okay?" Nat's concerned voice came but Bruce was barely paying attention. He couldn't take his eyes off of the Hulk. 

Before he could reply one of the robots support arms detached from the ground, transforming into an arm with a clawed hand at the end. Without warning it shot towards the Hulk, seizing him in it's grip and pulling him out of reach so he could no longer damage the robot's body. 

"Hulk! Tony!" Bruce screamed snapping out of his hypnotised stated, suddenly filled with an urgency to protect his friend. 

Roaring with anger, the Hulk attempted to full himself free of the robot's grip but was clearly unable to by himself. 

“We have to free the Hulk! Iron Man, Widow, Hawkeye, I need a distraction," Bruce ordered. He knew he would never get near the Hulk if the robot saw him coming. 

“On it!” Clint replied without a moment's hesitation.

Bruce took a step forward, reaching down and scooping up the shield at his feet. He was running now, without even thinking about what he planned to do he was running towards the Hulk. 

Using Captain America's super soldier abilities to his advantage he launched himself from the roof of a car onto the base of the robot, pulling himself up it's body until he was high enough to reach the arm that held the Hulk in place. 

Seeing him there the robot attempted to through him off but a blow to its head from Clint quickly distracted it, forcing it's attention onto the incoming attacks from the others. 

Running along the arm of the robot Bruce seized the giant metal claw that was grasping the Hulk and begun to pull. If he could just give the Hulk some room he would be free him from the grasp. 

Pulling with as much strength as he could muster with the Captain's super soldier strength he was barely able to pry it open a few inches, nowhere near what he would need to free the Hulk.  
A whistling noise and a rush of air alerted him to the arrival of Nat as Thor, landing on the claw next to him. Nodding, Nat wasted no time using the God of Thunder's strength to help pry open the claw.

The Hulk was clearly aware of what they were attempting to do now and was pushing out from within the grip. Tony must have regained some control and was doing his best to cooperate with them.

As the three of them attempted to work together he robots head snapped around to look at them but a direct hit with an electro shock arrow by Thor from Hawkeye's bow drew it's attention away once again. 

The enemies attention drawn away Bruce knew they only had a short amount of time before it would try throwing them off again. The combined strength of the teams three strongest members this should have been easy to make this an easy task, but they were still struggling. Why couldn't they do it? The others always made this physical stuff look easy, what was he missing. 

“It's not working,” Nat said almost as if she read his mind, still trying to tug at the claw while the Hulk pushed. It was then that he realised how uncoordinated their movements were. They were all trying to pry it open individually rather than focusing their strength at the same time.  
“Nat, Tony, stop! We need to do this together!” Bruce yelled. Nat stopped straight away, looking up at him, but Tony continued to flail around, clearly still not in complete control of the Hulk avatar. 

Bruce placed his hand on the Hulk's shoulder, squeezing slightly to get his attention.  
“Hulk!” He ordered, looking the beast straight I'm the eyes. For a moment he was startled when the Hulk returned his gaze. Looking into the Hulk's eyes was more intense than he hand anticipated but he remained focused, he knew they could do this. Tony must have regained control because the Hulk stopped struggling and looked at him nodding. 

Bruce held up his hand, keeping the instructions as simple as possible for the Hulk. “3...2...1 NOW!”

With one final burst of strength from the three of them the claw snapped open and the Hulk fell to the street below.

This caused the robots attention to instantly snap towards them, but it was too late, Tony was already leaping back into the fray for another attack. 

"Everyone together! Bruce yelled, so that the entire team could hear him. 

Then in one coordinated attack they struck. Arrows, lighting, rockets, electric shock, shield and the Hulk's huge fist all striking at once in order to bring down the enemy. With one final shudder and sparks bursting from within the huge robot began to collapse.

As they watched the enemy fall Bruce let out a cheer of celebration. Which the others soon joined in on.

Around him to the environment begun to disappear so Bruce took it as a sign the game was over and he could remove the helmet. His eyes took a moment to re-adjust to the real world around him but before he could do anything he felt someone throwing themselves against him into a rib crushing hug. 

“Tony stop,” Bruce laughed as he realised who had their arms wrapped tight around him. 

“I promise I will never make another joke about you Hulking out ever again,” Tony stated sincerely in his ear. 

“I did warn you,” Bruce replied, as he returned the hug. 

“So what was it like being the Big Guy?” Nat asked and Bruce found he was relieved to see the voices coming from the correct bodies again. 

“Single worst experience of my life," Tony replied clearly over exaggerating. "The second I transformed I lost all control over him, I couldn't even speak.” 

All eyes turned to Bruce who just shrugged. 

“Is that really what you deal with everytime?” Tony asked.

“Sounds about right,” Bruce admitted. 

Tony seized him once again, pulling him in for another hug and Bruce did nothing to stop him. Even though Tony would never truly be able to understand what it was like to be the Hulk at least he had some idea about what Bruce went through.

“Can I also say, that for his first time under the mantle of leader, Bruce did an amazing job,” Nat added, winking at him.

“Yes. Captain, you need to look out. From now on I'm only taking my orders from Banner,” Thor stated clapping a hand on Bruce's back. 

“What do you say Bruce? Ready to take on the position as team captain?” Steve asked, a wide grin on his face. 

“Thanks for the offer Steve, but I think I'll stick to the role of giant green rage machine for now. Spare us all from Tony having to do that job.” Bruce gently rubbed his hand on Tony's back to let him know it was okay to let go now. 

“Shame,” Clint interjected, “I think I made a pretty good Iron Man.”

“Go anywhere near my suits Barton and no one will ever find your body.” Tony threatened, finally releasing Bruce from the hug. 

“Okay guys, let’s go, time for a proper debrief about everything that just happened,” Steve ordered gesturing to the door. He was greeted by a round of groans from everyone was they begun to head out the room. 

As Tony begun to leave Bruce reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him. 

“What’s up?” Tony asked clearly realising that Bruce wanted to talk in private. 

“I’m sorry you had to go through all that,” Bruce said apologetically. 

“You’re sorry? I’m the one who should be apologising. First thing tomorrow I’m having a word with R&D and making them overhaul your entire character.” 

“Thanks,” Bruce replied, unable to hide his grin at how shocked Tony was over the whole situation. “It was pretty awesome when you jumped in front of that laser for me though.”

“Right?!” Tony responded excitedly. “I could see everything happening in front of me and I thought to myself, ‘What would Bruce do’ and I knew you’d be stupid enough to take the hit for Cap, so I did!”

“Yeah, I would have,” Bruce agreed after a moment’s thought. He wrapped his hand around Tony’s as they walked out the room together, listening to Tony as he burst with questions about his experience as the Hulk.


End file.
